We used to use just wheaties not all that other stuff. Just get a handful of wheaties, dip your hand in and out of the water crush it up and roll it into a ball onto a hook and toss it as deep as we could get. Hooked an ungodly amount of carp that way and quite a few cats as well. Another good trick is to drop some vanilla extract onto a good amount of worms for cats. Big stripers hit the hell out of that too. Some people soak chicken livers in vanilla extract for cats as well. Never tried that myself but they seemed to get good results.

Never had cats from a pond before GM so I wouldn't know. Channel cats, Blues and the occasional shovel bill were all we caught in the Tennessee river. Hooking onto a big ole 70 pound channel in a little 10 ft flat-bottom john boat was always a thrill!!! Nantucket sleigh ride!!!